Yes! Xbox One Finally Getting Background Music And More

The Microsoft Build conference kicked off today, and Xbox’s Phil Spencer was on stage to talk all things Xbox One. With the integration between Windows 10 and Xbox tighter than ever before, Spencer touched on several new features coming to Xbox One.

Have you missed background music? You won’t be missing it for much longer. Finally, the long-requested feature is making its way to Xbox One.

Now, I can feel like a Rocket League savant (or not) while listening to Rocket League’s soundtrack via background music. We don’t know if Spotify will be making its way to Xbox One at the same time. It might be Microsoft’s Groove instead. Look for more details at E3.

Background music is just one feature coming with the next Windows 10 update (named ‘Anniversary’) this summer.

Cortana, the Siri-like digital assistant, is also coming to Xbox One. Now you can talk to her about the Halo games she starred in. Spencer said the Xbox team will be announcing more features coming with the Anniversary update at E3.

The announcements didn’t stop there. Remember when Microsoft promised your retail Xbox One could be a dev kit? They are fulfilling that promise. A brief demonstration of it during the keynote shows how you activate your Xbox One into dev mode. Once you’re done working on your program/game, you can dive right back into the gaming action by exiting it. It looked fluid and easy to navigate. A preview of dev mode is launching today.

All future Forza games coming to Windows 10

This isn’t new news, but one of the folks at Turn 10 reiterated the stance during a sizzle reel at Microsoft Build.

Universal Apps for Xbox One this Summer

This is getting a lot of attention today, but it raises more questions than answers. Well, one question actually. Are these apps restricted from Xbox One? Spencer showed an example of the Steam version of Age of Empires 2 being converted to a Universal App for Windows 10. With these Universal Apps coming to Xbox One, could you play Age of Empires 2 on a Xbox One?

That’s the grey area. Universal Apps coming to Xbox One seems to suggest that, but there is zero confirmation that something like the Age of Empires 2 demonstration would also work on Xbox One. It would be awesome, but I’ll have to see it to believe it. I just can’t wrap my head around this working on Xbox One. I hope I’m wrong. Who wouldn’t love to play PC games right on their Xbox One via Universal Apps?

The wait for E3 gets harder

At the beginning of the year, I thought E3 was going to be just another E3. Basically, a games showcase. But the more we hear from Microsoft and the rumors coming from PlayStation and Nintendo, this E3 could be the biggest we’ve seen since right before the Xbox One and PS4 launch.

I hope the Xbox team hammer out the specifics on what Universal Apps means for Xbox One. The potential is here for something huge.

What do you think of today’s announcements? Background music is an instant win for me. I remember hitting the tracks on Project Gotham Racing with my own background music way back in the day.